The True Terror of Death
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: A different spinnoff of the .Hack G.U. universe. Anyways, I suck at summaries, so Please read and review. Fluff, angst, humor and Yuri included, so please read!


**Meh, I made some changes, and I think I'm the first to have such a unique_...twist _pertaining to Haseo. Furthermore, some changes have been made, including the fact that all Haseo's memories of 'The World R:1' remained intact this time around_._ Hope ya like it!**

The year is 2017, and online gaming has advanced to the point where it almost seems real. The most popular of these online games, The World R:2, was currently at twelve million copies sold.

In the back corner of a dimly-lit diner in downtown Kyoto, a girl was speaking on her cell phone to a close friend. While the shadows of the diner at dusk hid most of her appearance, one could make out very light, almost grey, hair. "Look, I don't think-"

"Ryou," The young woman was interrupted by her friend, whom he had known since junior high. "It's been seven years. If you're worried at all about another incident, don't you think something would've happened by now? Besides, it's summer, take a break from the the books."

The girl, now known as Ryou, sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll grab a copy on my way home, we'll meet on it tomorrow." She said as he got up from his seat, dropping money on the table.

The young man named Hiroshi walked to the kitchen after getting home that night, dropping a shopping bag and turning the television in on as he passed by. Nothing was actually on at that time, but his apartment was too quiet without the TV flaring.

As Hiroshi was looking for something to do, not wanting to play the game he bought without his friend playing too, his phone began ringing. Picking up the cordless nearby, he answered quickly. "Hello?"

"Ryou!" Her best friend's voice flared from the other end. "What's up, girl?!"

"...What?" She blinked, confused. "Didn't we just talk like half an hour ago, why are you calling now?"

"Yeeeaaah, I got bored." A sheepish chuckle came over from the other end. "So do you have the game?"

"R:2? ...Yeah, got it on the way home. Why?"

"Put it in."

Ryou blinked. "What? Like, right now? But weren't we going to wait until tomorrow, to-"

"No, I'm bored. Put it in."

Sighing, she pulled out the CD case from the shopping bag at her feet, and took out the installation disc inside, the dim light gleaming off its glistening red surface. "Alright, alright. We'll start playing tonight. You think they still have Mac Anu?"

"Don't see why they wouldn't." The man from the other end commented as Ryou placed the game disc into her hard drive.

"Let's meet in front of the item shop there, then. Assuming we can find it."

"Got it. See you there, Ryou."

"Yeah."

--

After some wait, she heard the familiar 'ding!' of a program finishing its installation. After checking to make sure The World R:2's icon was now on her desktop, she opened up the email, deleting the typical thank-you mail from CC Corp.

"Alright...Let's try this..." She put on the headset, as the world went black before the CyberConnect Corporation popped up. Following that was a screen with The World R:2's title page.

ENTER LOGIN:

Username: ****  
Password: ******

LOGIN ACCEPTED. WELCOME TO THE WORLD R:2.

--

In the aqua capital Mac Anu, in the Delta Sever of The World R:2, a new player appeared before the Chaos Gate. There wasn't much to the character. A black collar; dark loose-hanging pants with yellow-orange runes decorating them. A pouch on both the left and right sides of her waist, accentuating her curves and jagged red lines, tattoos flowing down her eyes. Of course, she wore a loose belt with a gold buckle in the front, and more belts wrapped around her knees. Even more belts were around her sleeves, and one wide one around each leg. Even her dark boots had red belted lines around them, and a series of them wrapped around her chest, an all black belted shirt, no sleeves, and therefore very little to cover her C-cup breasts.

...She liked the color black, and she liked belts, but that's beside the point.

Her gloves, the same shade as the boots, unclenched, testing out the game. Her ankles were wrapped in redish black straps, and with similar straps by her knees. Her spiky, silvery-colored hair went down to her shoulders, and her keen crimson eyes held a mixture of excitement and nervousness behind them. Topping the outfit off were a series of red tattoo's, two at the shoulders, and one emblazoned upon the navel of her stomach.

Taking in the sites, the newbie Adept Rogue glanced around, surveyed her surroundings, sighed, and smiled as she beheled the familiar sight of players milling about. Moments later, there was small 'ding' and a message scrolled across her screen.

_Haseo, huh? Why'd you pick that name?_

A small scowl marred her face, and there just logging in for the first time, was her companion. Surprisingly, he too had picked an adept rogue for his character, though his attire was mostly orange and brown as compared to her black and red.

"Oh, and you're one to talk, Matsu?" She replied, for that was the name of his character. Checking the stat's, she saw that he'd chosen a steam gun as his starting weapon, as opposed to her twin blade. "You look like you dumped yourself in a can of paint!"

"Wha?!" He exclaimed increduously, eyes narrowing in irritation. "Well you look like you bleached your hair!"

However, before their good natured teasing could degenerate into meaningless bickering a voice cut in.

"Hey, you guys, is this your first time logging in?"

"Hmm?" Ryou turned Haseo towards the voice, and Matsu did the same, finding themselves face to face with two friendly looking players.

IYOTEN, a silver-haired man dressed in a tight sleeveless jacket. His hair covered his eyes and his class was that of a steam gunner. Asta, a fragile-looking, green-haired woman dressed in black armor. Her body was heavily decorated with red wave tattoos and she wore an over-sized purple hat on her head.

"Back off you two."

The two would be PK'ers took one look behind them, and paled as yet another player character approached. Moments later the duou logged out, something that drew a small gulp from the two noobs.

Bordeaux, the one now standing before them, was a young, red-haired woman scantily dressed in purple and black armor with many spider-like motifs. Her weapon of choice, a twisted, barbed sword, was slung menacingly over her shoulders. Her wave symbol consisting of a large tattoo on her forehead, was largely ignored as her smoldering glare fixated itself on the two rogues'.

"Here." She grunted, and Haseo blinked, surprised to receive a member address. "Now," Without further ado, Bordeaux grabbed Haseo _and _Matsu by the collar, dragging her forward and towards the chaos gate the area words already scrolling across the screen, sneering falling empire.. "You and your buddy over there, you're both coming with me."

**Next time, Kestrel.**


End file.
